Monday, January 07, 2008

Deliberately Unoriginal Ad

The Euro RSCG effort for energy firm EDF uses 100% 'recycled footage' - including shots of JFK, the Wombles and Thunderbirds - for an ad trumpeting its eco-friendly credentials.

I think it works rather well.

The idea is solid and yet lateral, and the execution is excellent. Cutting together such diverse bits of film to tell a coherent story... not as easy as they make it look.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I feel a bit uneasy that one of the country's biggest polluters is advertising how green it is. In the same way that Walkers talk about how healthy their crisps are, and in '1984' the interrogation centre was called the Ministry of Love...

Oh my fucking god, have you seen the Halifax 'Thomas' ad. It stinks to high heaven of unadulterated poo.

Its on David Reviews if anyone feels like cheering themselves up. It proves that not getting as much good work out as we would always like, is better than a trip to South Africa with a stinker on your reel.

It is nice to see a bit of lateral thinking in creative terms and takes an ironic stab at the critics of the ad industry that claim that there is no new ideas anymore. Whilst also tapping into the social popularity of the remix and re-working, our recombinant consumers will be impressed. The claims are a little weak though.